<p>As media is reporting that house values are going down in some neighborhoods. I was wondering if people could tell where they live in and how property values are doing.</p>
<p>In upstate capital district area of NY, house prices are pretty stable. They have not declined as much as other places. I can say values are remaining same in suburbs. </p>
<p>Please list where you live in and how property values are holding values big time up, up, same, down or big town down. It is just an unscientific survey to find outwhat is out there.</p>
<p>Southern NH, maybe down about 10%. We didn’t experience the big bubbles that many other places did, perhaps due to the memories of the last huge housing bust in the late 1980s. Unemployment is around 4% which isn’t too bad. Tech hiring seems to be decent in this area.</p>
<p>Seattle, after 6 years of 10% annual growth is now level to down slightly. Maybe off 5% on the east side. </p>
<p>In Lynchburg/central Virginia things are flatter after about a 50% increase since 2003. Maybe a small 5% drop at the higher end but anything under $250k in a good area still sells well. They built too many $450K+ homes for a small moderate income city. So far excellent job growth has kept values solid. A major local nuclear company just announced 500 new engineering jobs so that should keep any major slump away. Also Liberty U keeps growing and adding faculty and staff. They make good home buyers.</p>
<p>Purchased a home in N. Va / DC area in 2002 for $300K, sold three years later at nearly double the price. Bubble burst in that market within 6 months after our sale. Houses in the same neighborhood are back at the $300K price range, mostly due to all the foeclosures. </p>
<p>BTW, Pima took a customer out this week peoperty-hunting in the same market. Of the 30 properties she showed them, 29 were in foreclosure. The drop in the market is stopping, but the flood of foreclosures is going to keep the prices down for a while. Heard from buddies at Nellis AFB that the areas all around Vegas are even worse.</p>
<p>Yes, N Las Vegas is a bloodbath as is far south part of LV. Better areas in town and around Green Valley/Henderson are doing OK. Down but not crazy down. Condos are dead in water. Probably off 50%.</p>
<p>Are good parts of NOVA like Alexandria really down that much?</p>
<p>Pima’s the real expert on the details. I’ll ask her to chime in with her thoughts. From what I hear her tell, Alexandria and Fairfax have dropped, but not as bad as Prince William County. Development there is at a stand-still, and the foreclosure market is still pretty bad.</p>
<p>Again, Pima could tell you more specifics, if anyone is interested…</p>
<p>Westchester New York. We’ve had our house on the market in the summer of 07 and 08. At around 2005, 2006 it was appraised at approximately 2.2 million. Now, we have it on the market for 1.4 and it still won’t sell =/</p>
<p>Southern Maine prices continue to go up. The town just did a reassessment, and the valuation of all of the antique houses in town more or less doubled. They are now roughly in line with the latest selling/asking prices.</p>
<p>I agree with VeryHappy about Fairfield County. I will also note that the rental market is HOT! Lots of people interested in renting those 4 BR colonials, along with newer upscale active adult condos. Also, the new construction market at the high end is not doing badly – if the properties were priced realistically to begin with.</p>
<p>On my way home, there were big signs indicating an Estate Sale. Decided to look and it was on the otherside of our hill. Picked up some pillowcases, flat sheets, fullbody wetsuit, other small stuff for the family’s vacation house. This newer 4500 sq ft, 3 level house overlooks a vineyard, cherry, filbert orchards, Pacific Flyway Refuge, and a 180 view of this valley and coast range. Kitchen composed of highend Dacor equipment, propane gas and a commercial electric generator. Closet still with womans clothing (30-40 age), young teenager stuff for 2 boys and a girl. Plus a 3 bay farm equipment shop. </p>
<p>As I was paying, I said that this is a very odd Estate Sale. Clerk replied, thats because it was a foreclosure sale. Previously owned by a mortgage broker, now owned by a bank. Sorry for the family. Sorry for the shareholders of this bank, Sorry for the taxpayer who bails the bank out. Not sorry for him.</p>
<p>My house was on the market for 9 months. It sold for about 12% less than what it had been worth just a year earlier. Monument, Colorado (just north of Colorado Springs).</p>
<p>I would guess, in our part of town, that upper midrange (+$375K) to very high end homes are at a standstill in movement and in a severe price decline.</p>
<p>Our neighbor’s S, bought a 70’s house across the street from his parents house. Remodel and upgraded it. On the market as a finished remodel at $425K. Is now asking between $360-390K on negotiated terms. 18 months on the market and climbing.</p>
<p>I live in Michigan, in the most affluent county … not the most affluent town in the county, though. We have been in our home, which was built in the early 70’s, for 22 years. For many years, our home value grew steadily. A few years back, the growth leveled off … fancier subs were going in around us on what was previously farmland. The new homes were new (of course), and they had city water & sewer (our sub is well & septic). So, while our values weren’t rising much, they were at least holding steady.</p>
<p>Over the last year, though, the number of foreclosures in our county has skyrocketed. You can’t even give a house away anymore. A woman in our sub was about to be foreclosed on, so she sold her home for less than 2/3 of what it would have sold for 2 years ago. Other homes in our sub haven’t sold, either because they are still asking too much (much less than they would have asked a year or two ago) or because there are no buyers.</p>
<p>We feel fortunate that we bought so long ago. At least we won’t lose anything & we can actually still borrow against our equity if need be. I know several neighbors who are in danger of foreclosure … a couple are divorced women who are unable to make their payments, a couple are folks who borrowed too much against their homes & are in trouble now, and a couple are folks who financed with ARMs & now have to pony up. If more of these folks let their homes go at deep discounts like the woman described above (there have already been several such sales) … our values will plunge even lower. Not that our assessments will go down accordingly …</p>
<p>In NoVA, Woodbridge/Dale City is one of the highest in the nation. realistically, if you have had the house for 3-5 yrs, you are at a flat price for that area, other parts of PW county are about 10% higher with a longer sale time, which would be considered realistic sale time 5 yrs ago b4 the boom, @ 3-6 mos. People got greedy it wasn’t uncommon in 05 to have multiple contracts in hours. </p>
<p>For Fairfax county, they were even greedier than PW, now they are being hit. We have the ability to see what they bought it for, all of my forelcusre properties I showed, showed the home taking a 200K hit in 2 yrs. The banks have had to absorb this cost. What’s worse is that these properties aren’t even selling quickly, typically 6 mos. The only time you see the home vacant is not b/c of the bank, but because the electric, gas and water has been shut off…they actually come to the home and remove the box.</p>
<p>The people who get in trouble are those that took a 3/27 or an MTA. A typical 3/27 on the 1st day of the 4th yr, the int rate can go up 2 pts, and do that until it caps of 5% higher. 2% equals 2 on the thousand 500K means the mtg goes up at least 1k a month…someone who onlt qualified with a 5% now is paying almost 50% more in their mtg. The MTA scenario is worse because it is a negative amortization. They start out paying 1%, with the other 4% being rolled monthly into the mtg at yr 3 they now have to pay the 5%, but instead of the original mtg price, they now have a much higher balance. Thus, they are paying on 500k now about 700k and the mtg has ballooned by 3-4k a month, compared to the 1 k…that is almost impossible to do, and now they can’t even refi b/c the house is worth @400k if they are lucky, which means the bank is already going to lose 300K</p>
<p>I think I bought one of the last houses in my area to sell for under 95K (I paid 91K).
I bought in the fall of 2001, shortly after 9/11. At that time, there were maybe 30-40 properties listed in this zip code on realtor.com</p>
<p>I just checked and there were 163 properties in the zip code and one just a street away (it’s the exact same house, lots of streets are the same house), and it’s selling for 2X what I paid. I think values are down a bit, but for people who have been in their homes for 6+ years and for those of us who didn’t take out the equity, we are doing fine.</p>
<p>That said, I could never afford to buy my house today and most apartments would cost more than my mortgage payment.</p>